No Date Set for Malik Nabers to Return to Contact, Harbaugh Says

Malik Nabers has no set date, drill or checkpoint that gets him out of the red no-contact jersey. Coach John Harbaugh said as much Tuesday, asked directly how close the receiver is to losing it.

"I don't know. You don't know. It's just day by day," Harbaugh said.

Nabers has practiced in full-speed team periods since last Thursday at the Giants' Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, catching passes and running routes. He has not been allowed to take a hit.

A reporter asked Harbaugh what has to happen before Nabers can practice with contact again, and whether there's a specific test or hurdle behind it. Harbaugh's answer described several factors that are evaluated together on an ongoing basis.

"There are certain formulas that we use that kind of tell us what the risk factors are in practice," Harbaugh said. "So, that's what we ramped the whole team up that way. We're to a point in time now where guys are pretty well protected in a sense. They're kind of calloused up. That doesn't mean you can't get hurt, but just less injuries happen after a certain amount of work. So, that's part of it with him. It's also to your eye. It's also how he feels, and then ultimately with the doctors."

Harbaugh's answer names four factors: how many practice reps Nabers has logged, what the coaching staff observes in person, how Nabers says he feels day to day, and final approval from team doctors. He described how those factors interact. Some days, he said, Nabers asks for more work than the staff had planned. If the trainers agree and he handles it, the staff adjusts.

"It could go the other way, too," Harbaugh said. "So, it's just day to day."

Nabers has worked in a red no-contact jersey — the standard practice-field signal that a player is off-limits for contact — and Harbaugh said Monday that defenders "did a good job of respecting" it during his first days back in 11-on-11 drills.

"No, he won't go through the rest of the summer in a red jersey," Harbaugh said Tuesday. He added: "He'll be out of a red jersey before he plays in a game. He's going to have to get bumped around and hit and fronted up so he knows how to, you just have to feel that and know how to deal with it to protect yourself."

No date has been set for when that starts.

Two recent practices show what the coaching staff is watching for. On Monday, Nabers caught three passes from quarterback Jaxson Dart in 7-on-7 work, including one in which he went up and twisted in the air to secure the ball over inside linebacker Arvell Reese for what Giants beat reporter Art Stapleton of NorthJersey.com and USA Today estimated at a 20-yard gain. Video of the catch, posted by Stapleton, shows Nabers slamming the ball down after completing it.

The next day, Nabers ran a deep route to the right hashmarks on another throw from Dart. Stapleton, writing on X, said he briefly lost track of Nabers before the catch. "Then Malik Nabers, in red, came full speed out of nowhere, split the safeties + made the catch," he wrote.

Both plays match what Harbaugh described watching for: full speed, live coverage, a contested ball. Neither shows whether Nabers is ready for contact. He was in the red jersey both times, and the defenders around him did not hit him.

Asked Tuesday whether Nabers' recovery has gone better or worse than expected, Harbaugh addressed the season opener directly. "Yeah, it's just so hard to answer because the expectation wasn't that defined, honestly," he said. "I've always been hopeful that he would play in the regular season. Still don't know for sure, so we just have to see where we go day to day."

The Giants leave this week for a joint practice with the Dolphins in Miami, ahead of Saturday's preseason game there. Harbaugh said Tuesday that the team has not decided how much Nabers will work in that setting, because the Giants cannot control how an opposing player treats him the way they can in their own building. "How much we do down there with him will be in question, just because you're going against a different team," he said. "So, we can't control the environment quite as well. So, we'll have to give that some thought."

No date has been set for Nabers' first live-contact rep. The Giants open the regular season against the Cowboys on Sept. 13.